Red Rocks Park offers up much more than just music

Apr. 24, 2013

Written by

Dawn Wilson

For the Coloradoan

If you're lucky, you might catch a glimpse of a mountain bluebird at Red Rocks Park in Morrison. / Courtesy of Dawn Wilson

Red Rocks Park

Directions: Approximately 75 miles from Fort Collins. Take Interstate 25 south for approximately 52 miles to exit 216B for Interstate 76 west towards Grand Junction. Merge onto Interstate 70 west. Take exit 259 for Morrison. Turn left at the traffic light onto Colorado Highway 26 towards Red Rock Parks. Travel two miles and turn right onto Red Rocks Park Road. The Visitor Center is located at the end of West Alameda Parkway in the park near the Upper North Lot. Hours: Park and amphitheatre open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Trails close a half hour after sunset. The amphitheatre might close early on concert days. The visitor center is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas. The center’s winter hours are 9 a.m to 4 p.m. October to April. From May to September, the center is open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Pets: Allowed on leash in all areas of the park except the visitor center and amphitheatre. Bikes: Permitted in the park on designated trails, parking areas and roads. Information:www.redrocksonline.com.

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“Can you take our photo in front of this landscape?” asked two weary travelers who drove all night from Chicago to arrive in Colorado for a Slightly Stoopid, Cypress Hill and Tribal Seeds concert. “We have never seen anything so beautiful.”

They were standing at the northern overlook on Plains View Road at Red Rocks Park, where the scenery includes the Denver skyline, Dinosaur Ridge, Green Mountain and the red rock formations to the south.

U2, the Grateful Dead, The Police and thousands of other musicians and performers from around the world have belted out their songs on the acoustically perfect stage of the natural Red Rocks Amphitheatre. But the amphitheater is part of a much larger 868-acre park that includes dinosaur fossils, red sandstone rock of the Fountain Formation, abundant wildlife and hiking trails.

Red Rocks history

The history of Red Rocks Park dates back 300 million years when the red sandstone that makes up the walls of the park was deposited in streambeds and shallow seas. These flat seabeds were pushed up during the rise of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains to create the red sandstone walls seen in Red Rocks Park, which today reveal fossils of small animals.

Approximately 150 million years ago, giant stegosaurus and allosaurus dinosaurs roamed the area. Fossils from these dinosaurs were discovered by Arthur Lakes, a Colorado School of Mines professor, in 1877 on nearby Dinosaur Ridge. And during the construction of Alameda Parkway to Red Rocks Park in 1937, dinosaur tracks made by iguanodon and ornithomimus, which lived approximately 100 million years ago, were discovered.

As long as 12,000 years ago, American Indians used the natural stage as a meeting and gathering place. And as recent as the late 1800s, members of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes continued to use the area.

In 1906, J.B. Walker, founder of Cosmopolitan magazine, purchased the land that makes up Red Rocks Park from previous owners George Morrison and former Colorado Gov. John Evans. Walker envisioned artists performing on the world’s only naturally occurring, acoustically perfect amphitheater. Using a temporary stage, Walker produced concerts until 1910, including for the famous opera singer Dame Nellie Melba, who declared that Red Rocks was “the greatest open-air theater I have ever seen.”

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The city of Denver purchased Red Rocks in 1928. Plans for the amphitheater were completed in 1936, and construction began with the help of the members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Red Rocks Park Amphitheatre was dedicated on June 15, 1941.

Music and much more

Visitors today can enjoy the perfect acoustics during a variety of concerts during the summer concert series or watch a movie during the Film on the Rocks series. The Visitor Center is open during the day, where guests can look at old concert posters, walk through the Performers Hall of Fame, learn about the area’s cultural and geologic history and watch Oscar-winner Donna Dewey’s documentary about Red Rocks.

While at the park, take a hike through the red rock formations, meadows and streambeds.

The 1.4-mile Trading Post Trail offers an up-close view of the park’s Fountain and Lyons rock formations. As you hike, match up the names of the distinct-looking rocks called Ship Rock, Sphinx Rock, Frog Rock and Iceberg Rock. This moderate trail winds through the bases of the red rocks, down into stands of cottonwoods and crosses over a stream. This trail is open to hikers only.

The Red Rocks Trail on the northern side of the park connects into the Jefferson County Open Space trail loop. This 6-mile loop crosses through Matthews/Winters Park to the Dakota Ridge Trail on the hogback and back into Red Rocks. The portion of the trail within Red Rocks Park is 1.2 miles long. This trail is open to hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking.

In spring and summer, Red Rocks Park is alive with birds, such as mountain bluebirds, golden-crowned sparrows and scrub jays. Deer are prolific in the park and red fox make occasional appearances.

Guided tours are offered daily at 10 a.m. from June to October. Tours include educational displays of Red Rocks geologic and musical history, Performers Hall of Fame display and a screening of the Red Rocks Park documentary. Tours cost $6 for adults and $3 for seniors and children.